The former president's health is 'perilous,' according to documents filed in the court case that resulted in the remains of his three deceased children being reburied Thursday in their original graves.

Court documents from June 26 said: 'The anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds,' the court filing said.

Mandela, who was hospitalized on June 8, remains in critical but stable condition, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma, who visited the anti-apartheid leader on Thursday.

The South African presidency has denied that Mandela is in a 'vegetative state', and reiterated former statements that the beloved former leader is in a critical, but stable condition.

The statements come as the remains of the 94-year-old's
three deceased children were reburied at their original resting site
following a court order to return them after Mandla moved the bodies.

It comes as the feud between Mandela's family descended into soap opera farce today when his grandson and heir Mandla accused relatives of adultery and milking the fame of the revered anti-apartheid leader.

In a news conference broadcast live on
TV that stunned South Africans, Mandla confirmed rumours that his young
son, Zanethemba, was in fact the child of an illicit liaison between
his brother Mbuso and Mandla's now ex-wife Anais Grimaud.

With Mandela on life-support in a
Pretoria hospital, the escalating feud has transfixed and appalled South
Africa in equal measure.

Last journey: The hearse, foreground centre, carrying the remains of family members of former President Nelson Mandela drive to the grave site, with Nelson Mandela's house, at rear left

Dispute: Makaziwe Mandela, center, daughter of former President Nelson Mandela walks to a car after the ceremony

Centre of tension: Ndaba Mandela, centre, grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela walks with family members today

Checking: A police man provides security as the hearse carrying the remains arrives in Qunu

'Mbuso impregnated my wife,' Mandla
said in Mvezo, the Eastern Cape village 700 km (450 miles) south of
Johannesburg where Mandela was
born and where Mandla serves as the formal chief of the clan.

Mandla, 39, first raised questions
about his son's paternity last year when he split from French-speaking
Grimaud, who has since moved back home to the Indian Ocean island of
Reunion. He also revealed then that he was unable to have children.

His attempts to get the family to
address the questions of Zanethemba's paternity had been rebuffed in the
interests of preserving a semblance of unity in South Africa's most
famous family, Mandla said.

'This matter has never been discussed
by the so-called members of the family who say that they want to ensure
there is harmony in this family,' he said, challenging reporters to
conduct DNA tests to confirm his allegations.

'The facts are there. You may go and
find out, do the necessary tests that are needed,' he said. His brother
Mbuso has denied being the father of the child.

Newspapers have plastered 'Mandela vs.
Mandela' headlines across their front pages and editorials have
bemoaned the cruel irony of bitter divisions inside the family of a man
lauded the world over as the epitome of reconciliation between races.

The government said that Mandela remained 'critical but stable' after nearly four weeks in hospital.

The sleepy community of Mvezo, set
amid the rolling hills of the Eastern Cape, has been at the centre of a
vicious dispute that may ultimately determine where South Africa's first
black president will be laid to rest.

Update: Graca Machel spoke about her husband's condition at a fundraising drive for a children's hospital that will be named after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader

United: 'Whatever is the outcome of his stay in hospital, that will remain the second time where he offered his nation an opportunity to be united under the banner of our flag, under the banner of our constitution,' she said

Two years ago, Mandla exhumed the
bodies of three of Mandela's children from Qunu, where Mandela grew up,
and moved them the 20 km to Mvezo, where Mandla has built a visitor
centre and a memorial centre dedicated to his grandfather.

Mandla said he moved the bodies based
on his right as chief to decide the final resting place of family
members, especially his father Makgatho who died of an AIDS-related
illness in 2005.

'I hold the right to determine where
he is buried. I am the chief of Mvezo, as a traditional leader and the
head of the royal house of Mandela,' said Mandla, dressed in a black
leather jacket and red shirt.

Despite his assertions, many of South
Africa's 53 million people believe the exhumations were part of a
deliberate plan to ensure Mandela was buried in Mvezo.

Last week, a rival faction of the
family, led by Mandla's aunt Makaziwe and including Mbuso, won a court
order for the bodies to be returned to Qunu - an edict carried out late
on Wednesday after a last-minute legal bid by Mandla failed.

Speaking calmly and deliberately in
front of a bank of cameras, Mandla lashed out at Makaziwe and members of
the wider family, accusing them of trying to cash in on the legacy of
one of the 20th century's most respected political figures.

The former wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela Madikizela, arrives at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being hospitalized

Visits: Mandela, who was hospitalized on June 8, remains in critical but stable condition, according to a statement today by President Jacob Zuma's office. Zuma visited Mandela yesterday

'This is the very family that has
taken their own father, their own grandfather, to court for his monies,'
he said, referring to a long-running legal bid by Makaziwe to remove
the guardians of a Mandela charitable trust.

'It seems like anyone and everyone can
come and say 'I am a Mandela' and demand to be part of the
decision-making in this family,' he said. 'Individuals have abandoned
their own families and heritage and decided to jump on the Mandela
wagon.'

Makaziwe has declined to comment on the graves dispute, telling reporters that it is a 'private family matter'.

The three Mandela children exhumed
from Mvezo are an infant girl who died in 1948, a boy, Thembi, who died
in a car crash in 1969, and Mandla's father, Makgatho. In all, Mandela
fathered six children from his three marriages.

Today family members and community elders attended a ceremony on the Mandela property that included the singing of hymns.

Bailiffs break down gates to the home of Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla after a court ordered bodies secretly moved their be exhumed and returned to the family plot

Mandla Mandela had refused to cooperate with the court order, forcing bailiffs to act in Mvezo

Mandla was accused of trying to cash in on his grandfather's eventual death by moving the bodies two years ago

The reburial took place in Qunu, Mandela's hometown and the place the former president has said he wants to be buried.

Forensic tests earlier confirmed the remains were those of Mandela's children.

The
bitter family feud comes as Mandela remains in critical condition
nearly a month after being hospitalized for a recurring lung infection.

A Mandela family court affidavit, obtained by the Mail and Guardian
newspaper, said Mandela is on life support in the form of a breathing
respirator.

Mandla Mandela - the oldest male Mandela heir and a tribal chief - told a news conference on Thursday that 'my grandfather like myself would be highly disappointed in what is unraveling.'

Meanwhile, Mandela's wife said the former president is sometimes uncomfortable but seldom in pain while being treated in a hospital.

Graca Machel spoke about her husband's condition at a fundraising drive for a children's hospital that will be named after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

'Whatever is the outcome of his stay in hospital, that will remain the second time where he offered his nation an opportunity to be united under the banner of our flag, under the banner of our constitution,' she said.

Mandela, who was hospitalized on June 8, remains in critical but stable condition, according to a statement today by President Jacob Zuma's office. Zuma visited Mandela Thursday, said the statement.

Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years during white racist rule and was freed in 1990 before being elected president in all-race elections. He won the Nobel Peace Prize along with former President F.W. de Klerk.